I hate those containers because they aren't reusable. The tin part might be reusable once, but the lids become useless after the first time.

Personally I dislike the containers too because of reusing them is an impossibility (health risks) and we have so many of them. I would agree with my father that it is wasteful, if it were a plastic container from a takeaway (I love those).

I don't know if this qualifies as a cheapskate or what this is. This is more the story of someone who dodged a very expensive bullet and still complains about the cost.

The back story is that last year, a friend of my husband's was at fault in what should have been a minor car accident. Unfortunately, the other car was older and had an over-sensitive airbag. The other driver was so startled by it blowing up in his face that he swerved and caused a much more serious accident. All people were OK except for the startled driver who had a very seriously broken leg. He was rushed to the hospital for surgery and needed subsequent surgeries as he healed. He had six months of rehabilitation and because he had a very physical job, he could not work.

So all in all, the insurance claim was about $1,000 for the junker car, $200,000 in medical bills including surgery, rehab, home health care, physical therapy, etc. and $70,000 for a year's salary because he lost his job for not being able to work and it took him awhile to find a new one while he was not in peak physical condition.

My friends were understandably wondering if they should be liable. After all, they only caused a fender-bender and they were not at fault for the airbag issue or for swerving. They met with the insurance company lawyer and the analysis was that they should accept liability because if the case went to a jury, the jury would probably feel sorry for the guy and award him way more than what he was asking. The insurance company lawyer said that he could probably ask for 4-5 times as much and get it. Besides the actual suffering, his wife was very much stressed by the burden of his care and having to care for their two little children by herself. But they mostly just cared that they could pay off their debts incurred by the accident so they wouldn't lose their house or go bankrupt.

Our friends had to pay about 20K of the claim and took out a small home loan that will require them to pay $50 per month for the next ten years. They are two people who no longer have children at home and they both have professional-level salaries. (Their combined pay puts them very close to the 1%)

So now here is the cheapskate part: For the past few months, the friends have been complaining to no end about this. They have stopped wondering if they should have full liability and have focused on the greed of the claim.

"Well it must be nice to have someone to pay you to lie around for a year. I didn't realize it was OK to go on vacation just because you get hit. I think I'll go get in an accident and not work."

"I don't know how anyone manages to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on medical bills. Even my lasik surgery was less!"

"Of COURSE he can just have all that physical therapy because it's on our dime!"

I won't deny that I'd probably be ticked off about having to pay 20,000 over a little accident. But the whole thing is getting on my nerves. While this was happening, they discussed the case in detail in front of us because my DH at one point worked in insurance before his grad school. So we know that he really didn't ask for an outrageous amount.

Oh, and they paid 20K because their liability was capped at 250K. So if he had gone whole-hog, they would have been on the hook for every penny of it. So in a way, the guy saved them close to a million dollars and they keep going on about how greedy he is and how they shouldn't have to pay for his injuries. I'm going to be really good at bean-dipping by the time this is done.

(sorry so long. I heard about this AGAIN last night and kept thinking of people on this thread.)

Next time those people start to complain I would be highly tempted to say something like, "Isn't it wonderful that the guy was gracious enough to not want to go to court? Because you know that if he had, you know that you would have been out a whole heck of a lot more money then that measly $20k."

(Also, does this guy not realize that surgery and rehabilitation is not the same thing as a vacation at the beach?)

snipSo now here is the cheapskate part: For the past few months, the friends have been complaining to no end about this. They have stopped wondering if they should have full liability and have focused on the greed of the claim.

"Well it must be nice to have someone to pay you to lie around for a year. I didn't realize it was OK to go on vacation just because you get hit. I think I'll go get in an accident and not work.""I don't know how anyone manages to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on medical bills. Even my lasik surgery was less!"

"Of COURSE he can just have all that physical therapy because it's on our dime!"

I won't deny that I'd probably be ticked off about having to pay 20,000 over a little accident. But the whole thing is getting on my nerves. While this was happening, they discussed the case in detail in front of us because my DH at one point worked in insurance before his grad school. So we know that he really didn't ask for an outrageous amount.

Oh, and they paid 20K because their liability was capped at 250K. So if he had gone whole-hog, they would have been on the hook for every penny of it. So in a way, the guy saved them close to a million dollars and they keep going on about how greedy he is and how they shouldn't have to pay for his injuries. I'm going to be really good at bean-dipping by the time this is done.

(sorry so long. I heard about this AGAIN last night and kept thinking of people on this thread.)

the bolded puts them past cheap and into bad person territory in my opinion.

If you live in a big university town, you could probably furnish your whole house with cast-offs at the end of the year.

I remember a family gathering during move-in week at the University in Madison WI. I swear that I saw the truck from the 'Beverly Hillbillies' with the rocking chair on top pull up to the curb near a dorm.

Yep, we call it "Hippie Christmas!"

Ha! I love that! I live in New Jersey so of course there are little college towns everywhere, and dorm move-out day really is like a little holiday. It's definitely an event.

Edited because i know the difference between there, their, and they're

« Last Edit: April 24, 2013, 06:04:06 PM by hobish »

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It's alright, man. I'm only bleeding, man. Stay hungry, stay free, and do the best you can. ~Gaslight Anthem

A few years ago IHOP had a special where kids got a free pancake. We went and DD got the free pancake (I think it had a smiley face made out of whipped cream), and DH and I got an entree each. So of course this is a way to get families into the restaurant, understandable gimmick.

While we were there a family of parents and 4 kids came in. The kids got the free pancakes, no drink and the adults got nothing. They left after the kids finished eating and didn't leave a tip for their waitress. While they technically didn't do anything wrong, they should have left something for the waitress.

The cheap coworker I mentioned before goes to those free pancake day at IHOP. There are typically long lines and she waits about two or more hours. She never orders anything else or leave a tip either. I know because she brags about free food. I feel sorry for the waiters and cooks on those days dealing with cheapskates all day long with little or no tip, while working harder than usual. I'm sure regular customers avoids those days.

Unless I'm broke and starving, I wouldn't spend that much time waiting for a small, easily acquired freebie. I wonder if people think about how much it costs them in labor hours to wait for that "free" pancake. I remember going to the annual Ghirardelli Square Chocolate Festival, and there was a super-long line to get a micro-mini of a chocolate martini sample that used either 4 or 8 tickets (I think the sample tickets were sold in a group of 12 or 15 so that was an "expensive" sample). I figured it wasn't worth my time to wait that long for something so small; I'd rather pay full price for a regular size chocolate martini that I'd get within 5-10 minutes.

Shortly after graduating college, I ran into a friend of a friend who lived in the same complex and we started hanging out. We both were still members of the college gym and decided to go together with me driving. On the way home, he asked me to pull into the bank, and then make two more stops and when I protested, he said "it will just take a minute". He never mentioned running errands ahead of time. I later told our mutual friend about it and he said that "Joe" tends to do this because he doesn't want to pay for gas to run his own errands. I took my own car to the gym from that day forward.

A friend of a friend used to pull this crap all the time. He was super, super-cheap and had no problem taking advantage of my friend. Me, however, was another story. I remember Friend and I were ordering takeout from this one place, and I was going to pick it up. Mooch was ordering his food from a place across the street from where our takeout place was so he said, "Hey, why don't we take just one car?" I was already onto his cheapo ways so I said, "Okay, then let's take your car." He, shocked, responded, "Well, my car is full of stuff so you wouldn't be able to ride in it." I said, "Well, go ahead and move your stuff from just the front seat." He said, "There's a lot of stuff so it would take awhile to move" (yeah, right). Not willing to back down, I said, "Well, have you ordered your food yet?" He said no so I replied, "Well, ours is already ready so I'm not going to wait around for yours to be done. You drive to get yours, and I'll drive to get ours" (totally true -- his wasn't ready and he wasn't about to order it ahead of time since he said he wanted to read their menu board so it wouldn't be ready when he went to pick it up; I wasn't about to wait around the extra 10-15 minutes as Friend's and my food got cold). Mooch was flabbergasted, and, frankly, I know I was being a bit of a PITA (my hill to die on) but was not about to budge since he was a big cheapo user (he NEVER offered to be the one to use his car, his gas -- ever ever EVER -- so I wasn't about to "offer" mine). My car, my rules, and my rules said no to letting him have his way. I had nothing to lose as he wasn't MY friend (and, really, I absolutely couldn't stand him anyway).

Friend and Mooch didn't stay friends much longer after that (they'd been friends for 25+ years at that point; Friend was a huge pushover and very passive and, while he would get upset about being used, he never did anything to stop it). Mooch was living rent-free in Friend's house, claiming that he didn't have money to pay rent (sorta true as he was looking for a job when he moved back into our area). Friend believed him, even after Mooch got a job, until the day Mooch said he was going on vacation 3,000 miles away for a couple of weeks. Friend then, FINALLY, got incensed and said, "You don't have the money to move out yet you have the money to go on vacation???" I think Mooch finally got it (or Friend told him to leave -- I can't remember), but Mooch went on vacation anyway and found a place to rent when he returned (and asked Friend to "borrow" the deposit for the place). Mooch never paid back the loan (Friend figured he'd never see it), and Mooch also, purposely, even after being told "do not take this," took the super-long printer cable Friend told him he couldn't have when he moved out. I think the printer cable was the last straw for Friend, and Friend never spoke to Mooch again after that. Frankly, I couldn't see why Friend stayed friends with Mooch all those years (Mooch would regularly do things like tag along with Friend to Costco then put stuff on the belt when Friend went to pay for stuff -- Mooch didn't have a card -- and tell Friend he'd pay him back for the stuff later, which Friend said Mooch never did).

Personally, we do wash Ziplock bags (my husband insists), but I usually just toss the little sandwich bags that just have the flip over. And I never wash bags that held raw meat or anything that went yucky. I do turn the good bags inside out to wash them, though, so I can make sure to get all the way into the corners, etc.

I do this, too, and got DH to do it. I never keep the ones that held meat or fish, raw or cooked. I also keep the little brown Country Crock tubs because I know they are microwaveable (they held microwaveable sides like mashed potatoes or mac & cheese). I'm not as thrifty or cheap as I used to be, but I'm trying to get back to my thrifty ways (would like to pay down our debt, like the mortgage, as quickly as possible).

That was funny! You can pickle a table via the type of 'paint' you use. I've never done it, but it a method to get an antique look on something. I think it can only be done on wood, but I could very easily be wrong on that. I've seen it in pictures in magazines and online, I have never DONE it, so I don't know what all is involved.

Logged

Newly widowed, fairly cranky, prone to crying at the drop of a hat. Newly a MIL; not yet a Grandma. Keeper of chickens and dispenser of eggs! Owner of Lard Butt Noelle, kitteh extraordinaire!

My parent's kitchen, aside from a new refrigerator and a microwave, is exactly the same as it was when we bought the house in 1974. Rust red appliances, barely working oven and broken range. They have been waiting for my uncle to help them redo their kitchen as a favor since 1987. See, my father has helped him, so his brother is going to pay them back by building new cabinets and counter tops. Eventually...

His name wouldn't happen to be Paul, would it?

I see what you did there...

OT: Paul was supposed to have come round to help DH do the drive-way two days ago. Not a sign, not a call...

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When you look into the photocopier, the photocopier also looks into you

Unless I'm broke and starving, I wouldn't spend that much time waiting for a small, easily acquired freebie. I wonder if people think about how much it costs them in labor hours to wait for that "free" pancake. I remember going to the annual Ghirardelli Square Chocolate Festival, and there was a super-long line to get a micro-mini of a chocolate martini sample that used either 4 or 8 tickets (I think the sample tickets were sold in a group of 12 or 15 so that was an "expensive" sample). I figured it wasn't worth my time to wait that long for something so small; I'd rather pay full price for a regular size chocolate martini that I'd get within 5-10 minutes.

My parents have the motto that free is worth any amount of time and/or money. I like to go to the grocery store during non-peak hours so I can be in and out quick. My mom tells me that I'm wasting money because if I go when there are free samples, I can get a free lunch. Besides the fact that it adds half an hour to the time, that also requires eating multiple samples instead of just one. So I guess free is also worth any amount of shame.

Unless I'm broke and starving, I wouldn't spend that much time waiting for a small, easily acquired freebie. I wonder if people think about how much it costs them in labor hours to wait for that "free" pancake. I remember going to the annual Ghirardelli Square Chocolate Festival, and there was a super-long line to get a micro-mini of a chocolate martini sample that used either 4 or 8 tickets (I think the sample tickets were sold in a group of 12 or 15 so that was an "expensive" sample). I figured it wasn't worth my time to wait that long for something so small; I'd rather pay full price for a regular size chocolate martini that I'd get within 5-10 minutes.

My parents have the motto that free is worth any amount of time and/or money. I like to go to the grocery store during non-peak hours so I can be in and out quick. My mom tells me that I'm wasting money because if I go when there are free samples, I can get a free lunch. Besides the fact that it adds half an hour to the time, that also requires eating multiple samples instead of just one. So I guess free is also worth any amount of shame.

A major grocery store in my town stopped doing samples on Friday night because too many people would show up and scarf all the samples - as their date night. They switched to Saturday until 1 pm, and the sample consumption became much more in line with stores in other towns.

Also in my town - I was told by the manager of the cosmetics department in a large drugstore that it was fairly common for teen girls to stop by and do their date makeup from the free samples on display. Granted, my town is quite conservative, and I'm guessing that this was both frugal behaviour of a questionable variety, but also a way to get around the "There will be no makeup in my house!" dictum.

My IL's, especially FIL, are very, very cheap. It's actually kind of ruining DH's pleasure in buying our first home. We have not told the ILs yet, and won't until we close and it's a done deal (Friday...yay!). We paid a fair price for a property that we really like and are excited about moving in and making it our own. However, DH is dreading the inevitable lecture from FIL about how he bought his property for $25k and it had more land with it and blah blah. Well sure, but that was 25 years ago...the house was the manager's home on a now-abandoned oilfield...20 miles from a hazmat disposal site...in some of the ugliest, hottest, most barren territory you can imagine.